Beloved Nephew
by PunyBrainer
Summary: [RiRen] "Aww, he's jealous. Now you don't have to worry about finding a bride because you've already got one very willing candidate on your lap. You just have to wait until he's legal." Erwin sounded really amused and Levi didn't like it one bit. Fluff. Uncle!Levi/Nephew!Eren


**Modern day AU**

**uncle!Levi (21) & nephew!Eren (1.5)**

* * *

The clock struck seven in the morning and the doorbell to the Yaegar's rang. Carla shook her head and smiled, dropping whatever she was doing to get the door. It was funny— and quite eerie— how her brother-in-law was never too early nor too late. Always on time to the minute if not to the second. Sometimes she liked to amuse herself thinking the raven haired boy was a wizard when, really, he just synchronized their clocks and waited outside the door until it was seven. Just for fun.

"Good morning, Levi," the single mother beamed at the stoic boy as soon as she opened the door. Though all she got was a monotonous, polite reply. Not that she minded, but she really wondered what that brother- in-law of hers would look like with a wide, friendly smile, or with a goofy smile like the one often worn by her baby son.

"Good morning, Carla."

"Sorry for always making you come so early every weekend," said Carla apologetically.

"This is nothing compared to your busy schedule. It must be hard being a single mother, having to work even on weekends and most holidays."

Carla just chuckled and ushered him to the kitchen, where she left Eren with his sippy cup.

"Eren, mommy has to go to work now. Be a good boy and don't trouble your uncle, alright?" She gave a light peck on the small, soft forehead. Eren's cheery laughter abruptly stopped when he noticed Levi standing behind his mommy. The babe flinched and dropped his sippy cup, spilling some of the content on the floor. Carla panicked at the mess and the time she didn't have to clean it.

"I'll take care of it," was all Levi said as he quickly went to get a mop and a bucket. Carla thanked him before rushing off to her work.

With his personal experience due to his OCD, it only took Levi less than a minute to clean the mess his nephew made. He put away the cleaning equipment and turned his attention back to his nephew, who was still petrified in his kiddie chair.

"I've been taking care of you for more than a year and you're still scared of me?" He sighed. Levi rolled his eyes when Eren only stared at him with his big emerald eyes that had started to tear up.

"S-sow _*hic*_ wy..."

Good Lord, what did he ever do to make the damn brat so scared of him? It was cute at first how the little babe would flinch every time he so much as glanced at him. After a while, it was just plain annoying. And quite hurtful. Although it made babysitting his nephew easier because the brat would always be in his best behaviour, not wanting his scary uncle to get mad at him.

Levi picked little Eren up and cradled him, trying to get those tears to stop. Honestly, he got the urge to shake the crap out of his nephew when Eren tensed instead of relaxed in his effort to provide comfort. He sighed and put him in his kiddie chair again.

"Geez, stop crying or I'll throw away your sippy cup."

Oh, the silly threat seemed to work. Eren's crying was reduced to small hiccups.

"You really like your sippy cup, huh?"

A smile forced its way to his lips when his little nephew gave a small nod, big eyes looking up at him as if questioning the fate of his beloved sippy cup. Damn, the brat could be so unbelievably adorable sometimes.

Levi ruffled the little brat's hair before he went to make another cup of milk for him, washing the sippy cup while waiting for the water to boil. He wasn't a fan of milk, but the milk powder smelled appetizing. He let the cup sit in a bowl full of cold water to cool down the milk. He didn't want Eren to burn his little tongue and think that his uncle wanted to kill him. He didn't need the babe to be even more cautious of him.

The rest of the morning was spent in peace despite Eren's constant flinching and tearing up whenever Levi made a sudden movement. He finished cleaning the house and doing the laundry, and went back to Eren's playroom to find his baby nephew sleeping, surrounded by his toys. A smile unconsciously crept across his face. He wondered if Eren would ever look as peaceful around him as how he did then.

* * *

Eren's eyes fluttered open, confusion seeping into those big orbs when he didn't see the raven haired man. He never woke up from his naps to an empty ceiling or room. His uncle would always be the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, either reading right beside him or cradling him. Sure, the little boy was afraid of his uncle, but it didn't mean he disliked him.

"Iibai...?" He rolled over onto his four and kept looking around the room as if his uncle would materialize out of empty air if he kept it on. He didn't though, and that made the boy a little scared until he heard voices. His Uncle Levi's scary voice and... A voice he didn't recognize.

Eren looked around again and noticed the door was left open slightly. He crawled across the room and peeked through the small opening. He spotted a giant with blond hair laughing loudly, sitting across the small, low coffee table was none other than his scary uncle... Except, he wasn't so scary anymore since he was smiling, albeit vaguely.

* * *

Erwin's laugh halted when he saw a door opening from the edge of his eye. He lowered his gaze only to find a toddler perched in front of the door giving him the dirty looks.

"Uh... Levi?"

"Yeah?"

"I think your nephew just lost one of his toy..."

The raven man lifted an eyebrow and looked at Erwin like he had gone senile. "If you wanna give your baby nephew— what's his face? Armin?— a toy, get one yourself and leave Eren's toys alone. Your wallet's thick as fuck."

"No, no. Your nephew... he's giving me what I suppose is his nasty looks?"

"What? He's up already?" Levi followed his friend's gaze lazily. He wasn't surprise Eren had actually managed to open the door wide enough for him to slip through. Or that he was really giving Erwin dirty looks like he was some sort of evil monster trying to steal his sippy cup. What he didn't expect was his nephew— who had been so afraid of him— desperately crawling as fast as he could towards him, climbing onto his lap, grabbing his eraser that was conveniently (for baby Eren) there on the low table, and hitting Erwin right on his forehead with it.

Levi had slapped Eren's pudgy hand, calling it a naughty little hand, and Mr. Santa wouldn't give a little boy with naughty hand anymore toys because Mr. Satan's gonna take away his naughty hand if it kept being naughty, and immediately he vowed two things. One, he had to discipline Eren to be a man earlier than he planned because he started crying so hard his ears were going deaf. Two, He's going to murder his friend and make it look like an accident because he laughed at him for being so unlike his usually stoic self.

"There, there. I'll talk to Mr. Santa to forgive your naughty hand and protect you when Mr. Satan comes, alright?"

"No... *hic*"

One twitch from his eye. Well, that's that. He didn't know what else he could say to calm his nephew down. But he didn't need to worry about that anymore when Eren mumbled something in-between his sobbing and Erwin explained 'kindly', looking amused.

"Aww, he's jealous. Now you don't have to worry about finding a bride because you've already got one very willing candidate on your lap. You just have to wait until he's legal." And he didn't have to worry about how to kill the blonde because he had decided it didn't matter _how_, as long as it's _painful_. Though he still had to think of a way to stop Eren pawing him while continuously muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Eren's'.


End file.
